On September 17, Illinois’ Constitution Day, a coalition of legal justice reform advocates, allies and community members impacted by extreme sentencing held a rally outside the Office of Governor JB Pritzker.
The group assembled to push for an Earned Reentry Bill, which would create a new pathway for people serving very long prison sentences — including natural-life sentences — to have their cases considered for release by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board after serving 35 years, eventually phasing down to 20 years. The board would consider factors including rehabilitation, disciplinary record, educational or vocational programs, likelihood of reoffending and plans for returning to the community; advocates say incarcerated individuals can show that they have changed and earned a reentry to their communities.
Illinois abolished parole in 1978, creating a system that forces thousands to spend decades in prison without the possibility of having a parole board consider their rehabilitation or readiness for release. Around 10,800 of the more than 27,000 people incarcerated in Illinois are serving sentences of at least two decades. Two-thirds of them are Black.
Erin Condon, managing director of Parole Illinois, said the group is advocating for its “earned reentry” campaign—a bill that was written by incarcerated people at Stateville Correctional Center, a minimum security men’s prison in Illinois. Its central goal is to restore discretionary parole in Illinois, which Condon said is one of 17 states without such a system.
Why discretionary parole matters
Under discretionary parole, people who have served a portion of their sentences can appear before a Prisoner Review Board and make the case that they have been rehabilitated and are ready to return home. Condon said the process gives people in prison a sense of hope and an incentive to work toward rehabilitation, rather than “sitting endlessly in their cell.”
Johnnie Khalif Veal, executive director of Project Sound Off, a criminal justice reform organization, opened the rally around 11 AM, saying the focus is on legal justice reform, that it impacts everyone, and the coalition is pushing for second chances. After being accused of killing a Chicago police officer, Veal spent 51 years wrongfully imprisoned, convicted on no evidence.
“We need policies that benefit us as a people,” Veal said. “We must have mercy, compassion, and humanization. It’s critical our voices are heard.”
Veal said second chances are opportunities to grow, start your life over, and show your worth. Yet, in Illinois there is no platform to express change and growth, with no parole, Veal said.
Veal said Illinois’ prison system prioritizes punishment over rehabilitation, leaving no “release valve” for people who demonstrate growth or pursue education while incarcerated.
“If you rehabilitated yourself or if you went to another level of education or awareness in your redemption, there’s no release valve,” Veal said. “Everything is based on punishment, punishment, punishment. And in some cases, revenge.”
Clemency offers another route to a second chance
Stanley Howard, a former death-row prisoner who was pardoned by Gov. George Ryan in 2003 after evidence supported his claim that police tortured him into a false confession, spoke at the rally about the clemency petitions awaiting action from Gov. JB Pritzker. A backlong of more than 3,000 requests for the governor to forgive or reduce a sentence exist, Howard said. “There are people on the inside begging for a second chance. Read the Illinois and US constitution. Make up your mind JB.”
Returning citizen Max Silva experienced incarceration for more than 15 years. During this time, he witnessed first hand how second chances can change lives, Silva told TCR. He added many people in the system made mistakes as kids, and that people change.
Speaker Janet Jackson earned two PhDs and became an ordained minister while incarcerated and now advocates for criminal justice reform with Parole Illinois, the Women’s Justice Institute and Illinois Prison Project. Jackson, who was serving life without parole, said a second chance meant a first chance at freedom.
“Once you’re incarcerated and you see and you meet people, it changes your perspective on a lot of things because you understand that sometimes people just make mistakes,” Jackson said. “And it doesn’t make them a bad person. It just means they made a wrong choice.”
Jackson received clemency from Governor Pritzker, granting life with parole, after filing petitions seven times. Since her release, Jackson said, she has also used her degrees to demonstrate what people can accomplish while incarcerated. “We can accomplish stuff in prison — we don’t just sit around and play cards,” she said.
Marvin Alexis, who spent more than 10,000 days in prison, recited a poem at the demonstration, saying “we paid our debts… we want no pity… a second chance isn’t a hand out.”
Alexis said he understands what it’s like to be deprived of a second chance. “To do the right things, to show that you reformed yourself and redeemed yourself, and not be recognized for it,” Alexis said. “Second chances mean to be given the unencumbered opportunity just to be able to show our work, show our value, and show our ability to be able to give back to the communities.”
Decades waiting behind bars
Destiny Karim’s husband has spent the last 30 years in a correctional facility, she told TCR. He has been waiting for a decision on a clemency petition for four years. The petition received 56 letters of recommendation from state senators and legislators, she said. Karim attended the rally to support her husband and to advocate for action on his clemency petition.
Restorative justice practitioner Anthony Thomas said people inside prisons need a way out and for hope. “We reward good conduct. You build yourself,” he said. “You earn your second chance. That provides hope and helps you heal. We intend to be here til change happens.”
Several speakers condemned extreme sentencing, and what they called “death by incarceration sentencing,” which Condon described as life sentences, “putting people in cages with no hope to get out.”
According to Condon, 10 co-sponsors support the bill in the House, and they hope to get more legislators on board in 2027. It will be filed with two more sponsors in the spring, she said.
Veal hopes the rally raised awareness and bolstered support in the community and amongst lawmakers, he told TCR.
“I hope it achieves awareness to gain enough support with the community and with organizations to show lawmakers that the people want change,” Veal said. “People have loved ones and friends and family members that they know personally or have been just as impacted that need an opportunity to come home to their loved ones.”